Resources

Response: Risk assessment

Overview: The American Sustainable Business Council represents more than 165,000 businesses nationwide and advocates for sustainability in the economic sector.

How to Use This Resource: Businesses suffer significant losses because of climate change, which inflates healthcare, energy and transportation costs. The organization has initiatives in Massachusetts and South Carolina to unite business owners around adaptation to rising seas.

Overview: The global nonprofit Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative invests in climate resilience worldwide by providing select cities with financial and logistical guidance, and access to solutions, service providers and partners to help develop and implement resilience strategies.

How to Use This Resource: The website provides detailed reports on member cities via a database that allows users to select cities based on region and specific challenges. The site also maintains an active blog.

Overview: The Group of 7 leading nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — commissioned this report to identify the largest climate-fragility risks that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies in the decades ahead.

How to Use This Resource: The report identifies seven “compound climate-fragility risks,” such as extreme weather and sea-level rise, that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies. Based on an assessment of existing policies on climate change adaptation, development cooperation and humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding, the report recommends actions to reduce climate fragility and increase resilience. The report also includes nine country case studies, while the web site includes a fact book, risk briefs, suggested reading and an events list.

Overview: The United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme is a research group run out of the School of Geography And The Environment at Oxford University. It assists governments to adapt to climate change through practice-based research.

How to Use This Resource: UKCIP regularly publishes their case studies on innovative climate adaptation policy, which is searchable by sector and by risk.

Overview: The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a network of international cities that share information and collaborate on climate change action. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a key funder.

How to Use This Resource: The site’s database allows journalists to search among participating cities for adaptation and other initiatives. Its research menu provides access to extensive reports, case studies and data, including on adaptation and on low carbon emissions in cities.

Overview: The Nansen Initiative is an inter-government effort, primarily funded by Norway and Switzerland, to build consensus around protecting people displaced across borders due to natural disasters, including those linked to climate change.

How to Use This Resource: The Nansen Initiative web site has links to specific regional initiatives in Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Latin America, an archive of dozens of backgrounders and statements, plus policy reviews and research. The initiative also held an event at the Paris climate negotiations to bring together players around climate change and human mobility issues.

Overview: The United States Global Change Research Program is a coalition of 13 federal departments and agencies research the human-induced and natural processes of climate change.

How to Use This Resource: This 157-page report, part of a peer-reviewed scientific assessment incorporated into the U.S. National Climate Assessment, analyzes how climate change is impacting global food security across multiple sectors. The web site includes a six-minute explanatory video.

Overview: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency that develops policies concerned with human health and the environment.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will ample data, interactive maps and exhaustive reports to support scientist’s belief that climate change is caused by human activity. This data is organized by topics such as greenhouse gases, oceans, and ecosystems.

Overview: The U.S. Geographical Survey is a science organization that provides the government with information on America’s ecosystems, natural hazards and resources, and the impacts of climate change.

How to Use This Resource: Users can search this database – administered by the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and the advisory group EcoAdapt – for assessments by specific geographic regions, relevant agency, species, ecosystem and other factors.

Overview: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency that develops policies concerned with human health and the environment.

How to Use This Resource: This map illustrates worst-case coastal storm scenarios with datasets from the National Hurricane Center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Overview: The Environmental and Climate Justice Program is the branch of the NAACP advocating for climate change action in African-American communities.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find information the specific impact climate change has on African-American communities in the United States. The database includes policy reports, toolkits, and blog articles.

Overview: The Environmental Migration Portal is a database for information on climate-caused migration patterns and impacts. It was created as part of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change project funded by the European Union.

How to Use This Resource: The site includes links to the group’s research on climate change, adaptation and migration, as well to current projects, such as on migration and adaptation in South Asia. A helpful set of five infographics chart the relationship between migration and environmental change by outlining how extreme weather renders vulnerable territories virtually inhabitable.

Overview: Climate Adapt is a partnership between the European Commission and the European Environment Agency working to adapt Europe to climate change by providing a platform to publish and share information.

How to Use This Resource: This database contains European climate change projections in Europe, maps of regions vulnerable to climate change, national and transnational adaptation strategies, case studies and potential adaptation options.

Overview: The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is a nonprofit dedicated to preventing foreclosure, rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, and promoting affordable homeownership.

How to Use This Resource: This toolkit for New York City residents provides up-to-date information on flood insurance and risk assessment in the five boroughs. It includes an interactive map and a full report on flood insurance.

Overview: The Wilson Center is a non-partisan policy forum that addresses global issues through independent research to draft actionable policy recommendations.

How to Use This Resource: The Global Sustainability and Resilience Program is an overarching initiative that combines the ongoing efforts of the Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, China Environment Forum, Maternal Health Initiative, and Urban Sustainability Laboratory. There is extensive research, access to experts and events. Regular updates are found on the NewSecurityBeat.org blog.

Overview: The Green Climate Fund is a global coalition of governments working together under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to invest in climate-resilient development and help developing countries adapt to a changing climate.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find information on how the fund helps governments channel adaptation investments to developing countries, including a pledge tracker, descriptions of projects being funded, documentation and an online news room. More background about the Green Climate Fund can be found at the UNFCC web site.

Overview: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Life Science conducts research on biotechnology, biomedical engineering, renewable energies and process engineering, nutrition and health, hazard control and rescue engineering and industrial engineering.

How to Use This Resource: This book examines on the micro and macro levels the socioeconomic impacts of climate change and the process of adaptation.

Overview: The Risky Business Project is an independent assessment of the economic risks posed by a changing climate in the United States. It is the product of economic research firm Rhodium Group, which specializes in analyzing disruptive global trends, led by project co-chairs former New York Major Michael R. Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and philanthropist Tom Steyer.

How to Use This Resource: This special report outlines how rising temperatures in the Midwest will impact the economies of its major cities.

Overview: The United States Global Change Research Program is a coalition of 13 federal departments and agencies research the human-induced and natural processes of climate change.

How to Use This Resource: Participants of this information-sharing platform contribute their climate change research materials to this easily searchable database. The Adaptation + Mitigation and Built Infrastructure sections cover climate change action on the federal, state, and local level.

Overview: This report, prepared by the European Environmental Agency, the division of the European Union dedicated to providing independent information and research on the environment and its impacts on European nations, provides information on adaptation monitoring, reporting and evaluation systems at the national level in Europe.

How to Use This Resource: The 68-page report, sourced from an expert workshop held in spring 2015, is designed for policymakers and adaptation experts, as well as public and utility authorities, and businesses. It includes numerous country-by-country case studies, as well as tables with overviews of national organizations involved in adapatation.

Overview: The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) coordinates disaster reduction activities of the United Nations. It was founded in 1999 and focuses primarily on building resilience against climate change.

Overview: The Risky Business Project is an independent assessment of the economic risks posed by a changing climate in the United States. It is the product of economic research firm Rhodium Group, which specializes in analyzing disruptive global trends, led by project co-chairs former New York Major Michael R. Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and philanthropist Tom Steyer.

How to Use This Resource: This extensive and high-profile financial risk-assessment report outlines a range of potential negative impacts if climate change adaptation lags for each region of the United States, as well as for selected sectors of the economy. More extensive reports have since been released on the Midwest, Southeast and California.

Overview: The Columbia University Earth Institute unites scientific research, education and practical solutions to promote sustainability worldwide. It is comprised of more than 30 research centers and about 850 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, staff and students.

How to Use This Resource: In addition to its main section on climate, which includes latest blog posts from the center’s experts and menus to search by topic, researcher, research center and archives, this website also has an area dedicated to policy and science relevant to the Paris 2015 UN climate summit.

Overview: Climate Central is an independent organization of scientists and journalists researching and reporting climate change in the United States.

How to Use This Resource: This interactive report identifies the major climate threats facing the U.S – flooding, extreme heat, drought, and wildfire – and for each state provides a risk assessment score based on the extremity of weather and adaptive actions in place.

Overview: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the Department of Defense agency responsible for investigating and maintaining the nation’s environmental resources.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find the most recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers progress reports on its climate change risk assessment research, as well as video and other resources on climate resilience.

Overview: The Climate Impacts Group, part of the College of the Environment at the University of Washington, provides policymakers with scientific data and practical tools to address climate risks.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find datasets, publications and special reports on climate adaptation initiatives from this organization that focuses specifically in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada.

Overview: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency that develops policies concerned with human health and the environment.

How to Use This Resource: The Climate Ready Estuaries program works with the National Estuary Programs and coastal management communities to assess vulnerabilities and implement adaptation strategies. This database provides access to risk assessment and coastal adaptation toolkits as well as information on ongoing and future projects.

Overview: The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is a protocol to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

How to Use This Resource: This page leads to various resources related to loss and damage, including an overview of milestones, various decision documents and meeting schedules, as well as access to a database of examples of existing loss and damage measures.

Overview: The toolkit was developed in 2014 by a partnership of federal agencies and organizations, initially providing federal resources to help address coastal flood risk and food resilience. The site is expanding to address health, ecosystems, water resources, energy supply and infrastructure, transportation and more, as well as to include information from state and local governments, business, academia and NGOs.

How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a catalog of free tools to access and analyze climate data and a visualization tool that maps climate stressors and impacts. The toolkit also has case studies, explainers, training courses and resilience planning tools, as well as the ability to search the federal government’s climate science databases.

Overview: The World Economic Forum is an independent, international organization that collaborates with decision makers in the political and business spheres to shape global policies.

How to Use This Resource: Sub-Saharan African nations are among the most vulnerable to climate change and the least ready to adapt, according to this World Economic Forum report. Journalists will find data on the climate change and economic factors that weakens these nations.

Overview: The World Economic Forum is an independent, international organization that collaborates with decision makers in the political and business spheres to shape global policies.

How to Use This Resource: In a ranking of the top 10 global risks facing humanity, climate change is the cause of almost half, according to this risk assessment report from the World Economic Forum. It details the various ways extreme weather puts the planet at risk.

Overview: Three United Nations Agencies – the International Telecommunications Union, UNESCO and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – collaborated on this report, which calls for updated policy on climate change policy.

How to Use This Resource: This report explores the impacts of climate change on the information and communication technology sector, the potential for adaptation, and recommends new standards that need to be developed in order to protect economic growth.

Overview: The Institute for Sustainable Coastal Communities is a joint initiative between the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University at Galveston. The institute works to help prepare coastal communities adapt to extreme coastal weather.

How to Use This Resource: The Coastal Atlas is a detailed web-based program that maps data on the state of the Texas coast, specifically its flood zones, population density, and infrastructure at risk.

Overview: Small Business Majority is a network of 12,000 small business owners that conducts polling, focus groups and economic research to better inform policy makers about the concerns of their constituents. The American Sustainable Business Council represents more than 165,000 businesses nationwide and advocates for sustainability in the economic sector.

How to Use This Resource: To illustrate how American businesses are responding to climate change, this report presents six case studies from a wide range of sectors, including roofing, retail, tourism, landscape architecture, agriculture, and small-scale manufacturing.

Overview: The Union of Concerned Scientists is an independent consortium of scientists and advocates that work to develop and promote sustainable policies worldwide.

How to Use This Resource: As sea levels and flood risks rise, coastal development and a growing population put more people in harm’s way. This report studies how flood insurance reform can better manage growing risk.

Overview: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a consortium of 34 nations in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Asia that promote international economic development.

How to Use This Resource: This report details what actions the OECD has taken to assist developing countries prepare for climate change, how best to invest in future adaptation, and where funds are needed most.

Overview: The World Bank is an intergovernmental financial institution based in Washington D.C. that fights poverty by providing loans to developing countries, sponsoring research and promoting policy change worldwide.

How to Use This Resource: The cost of urban losses from flooding in coastal cities will rise 850 percent in 50 years, according to this World Bank report. Its findings are summarized in this article, which includes a link to purchase the full report. The report is part of a series, “Turn Down the Heat,” that looks at expected rises in sea level and their impact on vulnerable regions around the world.